Smile
by Emeralddragon694
Summary: A oneshot I wrote a long time ago as a request on another site. GaaraXOC


_**I wrote this a while ago for GaarasGirlShana on Quizilla, and decided to post it here. Enjoy!**_

The blond-haired girl walked through Sunagakure, smiling at everyone she saw and waving alone. She even helped the girl who dropped her lollipop in the sand and bought her a new one.

Her name was Makoto of Suna and Gaara hated her.

He didn't know why he hated her. It was petty, really, and he knew that. She wasn't mean, she wasn't cruel, she never insulted him. She was fairy pretty, if you cared about that sort of thing, which Gaara didn't (really, he didn't. No seriously, why are you rolling your eyes like that?) and she seemed to be fairly smart.

She wasn't a ninja. She wasn't even from Suna, so she got a lot of prejudice for that. She had been found outside the Sunagakure border, rapped in a velvet blanket, seemingly ignorant to the blazing sun.

Gaara didn't quite remember when he started watching her. Okay, he remembered exactly when.

~*~

_Makoto ran after the ball the other children had through so carelessly into the Kazekage's lawn. Most children wouldn't have the guts, what with the monster that lived there, but Makoto didn't seem to care. _

_What she did care about however was how no matter how hard she looked for the ball, she couldn't find it. She searched the entire lawn, until she finally was forced to give up. But when she turned around, she saw a boy with flame red hair holding the ball in his arms._

"_Oh," Makoto said, taking a step back. She had heard a lot about Sabaku no Gaara, how he was a monster and would kill you if you weren't careful. Well, Makoto intended to be careful. She wouldn't die, she wouldn't let him kill her._

"_Um, that's my ball…." Makoto said slowly, not quite knowing how to handle the situation. _

_Gaara nodded and held out the ball to her. Makoto looked into the boy's eyes and saw all the loneliness and sadness he had never talked about. Suddenly she pitied the boy more than anything in the world._

"_Um…we were about to play kickball and we have an odd number….and um……we need an even number to play kickball…….so……um……would you like to play? I mean, you don't have to, but if you want to, I'm sure the other kids wouldn't mind, they were complaining that we wouldn't have enough kids so….." _

_Gaara stared at the girl and nodded. She smiled and they walked across the Kazekages vast estate to where the other children watched tentatively. _

"_Hey guys! I found another person to play kickball with us! Now we have an even number!" _

_There was a silence, and then the first girl, a girl named Yuri__, spoke up:_

"_If he's playing I won't. I don't want to die!" And the girl stormed off._

_Slowly, as if a drain plug had been pulled, the other children left too, each saying something along the lines of "I don't want to die by the hands of that monster." Or "Sorry Makoto, but if that things playing, I'm not." Finally, Makoto and Gaara where the only ones left. _

_Gaara was looking at the ground. He had ruined this girls game of-what was it again? Kick something?-and it was all his fault. "Sorry, for ruining your game."_

_Makoto looked at him. "Hm? Oh, it's alright. They just suck. Well, I should probably go home. Bye!" _

~*~

It drove Gaara insane. Why hadn't she left too? Why did she invite him? It was an unsolved mystery of life.

~*~

It was getting late in Sunagakure. The moon was almost directly above Gaara's head as he sat and watched the moon from his roof.

He was watching her again. He wondered if it was righteous, but then he remembered he didn't care if it was righteous or not, so it didn't really matter.

What did matter was that Makoto was walking down an ally way, no doubt a shortcut home, when these men attacked her.

~*~

Makoto walked slowly down an ally way. It probably wasn't the best choice in her life, but she'd have to deal with it. She was late and would need to get home soon; the moon was above her head. Was it midnight? Perhaps later even?

She could tell that was a stupid decision as soon as she smelled the alcohol. She turned and saw the men standing there, swaying as if they were drunk as they walked towards her.

'_Alright Makoto, think rationally. Maybe you'll get lucky and they just want directions home. Maybe they are so drunk they can't walk home by themselves and want me to help. No wait, then they wouldn't be walking towards me. Um…crap.'_

"hic…hey girly, you sure are pretty. I loooove your-hic-preeeeeety bloooond hair…-hic-….and your blue eyes look like-hic-a pretty lake." One said very slurred.

Another one laughed. "Ya know girly –hic- you look almost good enough to eat. And we're veeeeeeery hungry-hic-. Do you have some food for us?"

"Um…sorry I d-don't." Makoto stuttered, hoping they weren't going to do what she thought they were.

"Oh, a shame then." The one man grinned. "We'll have to eat you then."

They all approached when suddenly they were surrounded by sand. "What e hell-aaaargh!" the sand pulverized them, and a terrified Makoto fell to the ground.

All she saw was the kanji for love, glowing bright red. "G-Gaara?" she asked. "Is that you?"

Indeed, the boy stepped from the shadows. Looking down at the girl, in which tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

"T-thank you so much Gaara…I didn't know what they were doing but I thought for the worst…and if you didn't save me…I…I…" she burst into tears and threw herself at Gaara, hugging him and crying into his chest.

Gaara was surprised by this action, but let her cry. She continued to mutter "Thank you...thank you so much…" and suddenly she broke away, blushing bright red.

"O-o-oh…um…sorry! I…um…er…sorry…" she avoided Gaara's eyes. "Um…can I do something in return for you?"

"You don't have to." Gaara said, slightly disappointed she had let go of the embrace.

"Oh but I want to!" she smiled, "May I?"

"Uh, sure." Gaara didn't know why he was loosing his cool, calm nature, but he was.

Makoto walked forward, smiled, and kissed him on the mouth.

Gaara was surprised by how soft her lips were, but he kissed her back, unsure if that was the right thing to do, but thought it was. Finally, later, she broke away, and smiled at him.

"Well, thanks! If I get that every time someone assaults me I should get assaulted more often. Bye Gaara!"

And she skipped off, leaving a confused, but happy Gaara behind. For the first time since he was six, Gaara smiled.

He was finally happy to be him.

_**AN: Somewhat cliché, but not the worst thing I've ever written. Hope you liked. Makoto is kinda a skank, and Gaara was a little OOC, but that's okay. BTW, the reason Makoto offered to let Gaara play was A. she wasn't from Suna, so she didn't know/believe all the rumorers, and B. She got prejudeced for not being from Suna, so she was used to people hating her for no other reason than her being her. **_


End file.
